For a man who claims to be apolitical, Sir John Rose, the chief executive of Rolls-Royce, certainly knows how to present a manifesto. In a speech on Tuesday night, Britain’s leading industrialist highlighted the cultural and governmental failures that threaten the future of our manufacturing base.

This could have been seen as yet another attack on the Government from one of the Prime Minister’s top industrial advisers. But Sir John was less interested in scoring political points than in putting forward practical suggestions to improve the country’s manufacturing prospects.

Admittedly, he took a well-aimed kick at the growth of the public sector under Labour. He pointed out that 50 per cent of new graduates are entering the public sector, where employment has risen by 16 per cent in the past decade compared with only 4 per cent for the private sector. This expansion of public sector jobs with competitive salaries and gold-plated pensions makes it more difficult for companies such as Rolls to attract the best talent.

Sir John also attacked attitudes towards manufacturing. “Frustratingly, the wrong language is still being used: for instance, drawing a false distinction between the creative industries and manufacturing.” Designing a website is cool and creative while designing a jet engine is not.

Sir John’s proposals include giving civil servants a more commercial edge, directing the science budget towards promoting entrepreneurship and the reintroduction of technical colleges. He also suggested that there should be “less emphasis on social engineering and more on wealth creation”. That was clearly a dig at the current regime. But it is to be hoped that whoever forms the next government, Sir John’s manifesto forms part of their programme.

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